Psychologist?

[Hide The Scars]

So I went and straight-up asked my old psychiatrist what I was diagnosed with and why to clear things up. She told me she diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder because she feels everything I've done was done for attention and my mood swings are too fast to be bipolar disorder like my mom has.
I totally disagree with this, first of all I hate attention and try to avoid it at all costs, secondly I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as having mood swings too fast to be bipolar. It just makes me hate her more for being so ignorant and not actually researching the things she diagnoses people with, you could look at Wikipedia and probably know more than she does about any disorder.
Anyways, my question is can a psychologist change your diagnosis? I don't have access to a psychiatrist right now due to insurance issues but I do have ready access to a psychologist and I could probably go see them the same day I call and make an appointment. And if he can or can't change it would he be able to refer me to a psychiatrist? I'm pretty sure if I got referred it'd be covered by the government health care (my old psychiatrist was kind enough to FORGET to refer me to a new psychiatrist after she dropped me because I was too much of a hassle for her ). It just annoys me so much that I go to see her with a diagnosis of bipolar, and she changes it for no good reason and switches up all my medication which almost got me killed and made me have to drop out of school TWICE wasting over $5000 on tuition and stupid spending sprees and almost getting pregnant. I have half a mind to go kick down her office door at the hospital and shove the hospital bill I just got in the mail down her throat.
Sorry, I'm in a bad mood seeing as I'm now up to my ears in debt thanks to her.

tl;dr Can a psychologist diagnose you with disorders and can they refer you to psychiatrists?

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

If you get a clinical psychologist, then yes, they can diagnose you and they can give a different diagnosis. They can also refer you to psychiatrists. When you see a different psychologist or psychiatrist, you can ask for your current one to transfer your files to the new one (need to sign some documents first). If you tell the new one that you were previously diagnosed (they could find out anyways), then they'll probably want your records.

You can tell your new doctor about the issues with the medications and perhaps see if they could give some rationale for the change in medication.

[Adam]

Clinical Psychologists use something called the DSM-IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnos...ntal_Disorders) Which has 297 Mental disorders in it.

So long as you fit the criteria they can diagnose you with it. The main difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist is that a psychologist mainly uses psychotherapy to help your disorder(s), whereas a psychiatrist who also can use psychotherapy is also able to prescribe medication. This is why you may be referred to one.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Adam

Clinical Psychiatrists use something called the DSM-IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnos...ntal_Disorders) Which has 297 Mental disorders in it.

Clinical and research psychologists also adhere to the DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR.

Originally Posted by Adam

The main difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist is that a psychologist mainly uses psychotherapy to help your disorder(s), whereas a psychiatrist who also can use psychotherapy is also able to prescribe medication. This is why you may be referred to one.

Right, this is not entirely accurate. A psychologist usually will spend more time with their patient and get to know them a lot more than the average psychiatrist will. However, the difference is that psychologists aren't allowed to prescribe medications, although this doesn't mean that they're going to resort to some form of psychotherapy. Some psychologists will do this but by no means are all of them going to do this.

If you are to get psychotherapy, you're generally referred to a therapist because, well, they use psychotherapy.

[Hide The Scars]

I actually have most of my records in a folder in my room (I went and got them myself from the hospital because I was curious about something) so could I just give them that when I go see them? It's just that I completely disagree with pretty much everything my old psychiatrist decided I have. When I started seeing her I was diagnosed bipolar and was already started on medication, she was just supposed to continue my care as an outpatient (I had been inpatient for several months at that point). She decided that instead of bipolar I have borderline personality, OCD, social anxiety, clinical depression, and dysthymia (can you even have depression and dysthymia at the same time?). There's probably something else I forgot but anyways, I don't think I have any of those, I don't think I have OCD for sure, I have no compulsions at all and haven't since I was like a preteen. I'm only ever anxious when I'm depressed, if I'm not depressed I'm probably not any more anxious than any other person. And borderline barely applies to me, the only parts that do apply to me are the parts that also apply to bipolar disorder, it just annoys me so much.
I could be a better psychiatrist than her and I slept through all of grade 12 psychiatry in high school.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

I actually have most of my records in a folder in my room (I went and got them myself from the hospital because I was curious about something) so could I just give them that when I go see them? It's just that I completely disagree with pretty much everything my old psychiatrist decided I have. When I started seeing her I was diagnosed bipolar and was already started on medication, she was just supposed to continue my care as an outpatient (I had been inpatient for several months at that point). She decided that instead of bipolar I have borderline personality, OCD, social anxiety, clinical depression, and dysthymia (can you even have depression and dysthymia at the same time?). There's probably something else I forgot but anyways, I don't think I have any of those, I don't think I have OCD for sure, I have no compulsions at all and haven't since I was like a preteen. I'm only ever anxious when I'm depressed, if I'm not depressed I'm probably not any more anxious than any other person. And borderline barely applies to me, the only parts that do apply to me are the parts that also apply to bipolar disorder, it just annoys me so much.
I could be a better psychiatrist than her and I slept through all of grade 12 psychiatry in high school.

Do those records include her notes and her report? If you have them and whatever other records, then I suppose you could give them all to your new psychologist or psychiatrist.

As for your diagnosis, you cannot have dysthymia and major depressive disorder together as the criteria for each strictly specifies that.

You could tell your new doctor the reasons why you want do abandon your older doctor and voice your concerns. Although it's probably unnecessary, you could pull the DSM-IV-TR criteria for dysthymia and highlight exactly where it says one cannot have major depressive disorder. However, before you do any of that, read the report that your old doctor gave. It's possible you initially had one then got the other as that is possible and does fulfill the criteria. You won't know that until you read that official report and that official report, if you request, is what the new doctor will receive.

[Hide The Scars]

The records I have are of my last hospitalization (they had given me a bunch of medications through IV and I wanted to know what they were that's why I got the records). The psychiatrist that I was speaking to at that time had gone and interviewed my outpatient psychiatrist because I was too doped up and out of my mind to answer her questions.
So all I have concerning my older psychiatrist and my diagnoses are what she said while being interviewed by the other psychiatrist.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

The records I have are of my last hospitalization (they had given me a bunch of medications through IV and I wanted to know what they were that's why I got the records). The psychiatrist that I was speaking to at that time had gone and interviewed my outpatient psychiatrist because I was too doped up and out of my mind to answer her questions.
So all I have concerning my older psychiatrist and my diagnoses are what she said while being interviewed by the other psychiatrist.

Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists must do a report for each patient that they have. If you're going to be seeing the doctor that interviewed your out-patient psychiatrist, then although they may be familiar with your case, they still may want the official report from your out-patient psychiatrist. The report gives all the details of your diagnosis, their comments and suggestions for treatment. The doctor may not remember your case perfectly so that's where the report comes in handy. You can look at the report (just need to request it from your out-patient psychiatrist or new doctor when they get it) and discuss it over with the new doctor, get their opinions and later, get their diagnosis of you.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by YourNightmare

Clinical and research psychologists also adhere to the DSM-IV and DSM-IV-TR.

I do apologise, I mean Clinical psychologists in my origional post. I have edited that now.

Originally Posted by YourNightmare

Right, this is not entirely accurate. A psychologist usually will spend more time with their patient and get to know them a lot more than the average psychiatrist will. However, the difference is that psychologists aren't allowed to prescribe medications, although this doesn't mean that they're going to resort to some form of psychotherapy. Some psychologists will do this but by no means are all of them going to do this.

If you are to get psychotherapy, you're generally referred to a therapist because, well, they use psychotherapy.

This is also what I was saying in my origional posts. Psychologist do give psychotherapy and counseling. Obviously these will spend more time with people than a psychiatrists who usually have a lot of patients.

It would also be impossible to categorize all psychologist / psychiatrists under any criteria.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Adam

This is also what I was saying in my origional posts. Psychologist do give psychotherapy and counseling. Obviously these will spend more time with people than a psychiatrists who usually have a lot of patients.

That is correct, however, that's not the reason why I was correcting you before. Your first post implied psychologists ONLY do therapy and counseling and don't do anything else. They are heavily involved in diagnosing, performing tests, etc..., which a psychiatrist is less likely to do.

As for the medication, you're correct, psychologists cannot give medications, although there is a furious and somewhat ugly battle going on where some individuals want psychologists to be able to give medications whereas others are against this. But for now, they don't give medications directly, although they are able to give medications indirectly, such as if a psychiatrist or neurologist is part of their team, then the medical doctor can write the prescriptions.

[Lizzie]

If you feel that your diagnosis is wrong, there is no shame in getting a second opinion. Psychiatrists are human, and can make mistakes, so if you feel this diagnosis does not feel right to you, than I highly recommend that you get a second opinion, there is nothing wrong with that. And if anything it is a responsible thing to do

[Hide The Scars]

Ok so let me get this straight. My situation right now is that I don't agree with the diagnosis that my last doctor gave me. And there is this organization that has been calling me every month or so saying that if I need to I can see a psychologist there while I wait to see a doctor that I've been waiting to see for a year because our health care system sucks and everything has a long lineup.
So if I went and saw this psychologist and spoke to them about what I think and what's been going on and they think I don't have borderline they can change that and help me see the right doctor who can get me back on my medication? And they'll talk to me for more than 10 minutes at a time before kicking me out for their next appointment?
Does it have to be a certain kind of psychologist? I've never heard of there being different types of psychologists so when you guys say clinical I have no idea what you're talking about.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

Ok so let me get this straight. My situation right now is that I don't agree with the diagnosis that my last doctor gave me. And there is this organization that has been calling me every month or so saying that if I need to I can see a psychologist there while I wait to see a doctor that I've been waiting to see for a year because our health care system sucks and everything has a long lineup.
So if I went and saw this psychologist and spoke to them about what I think and what's been going on and they think I don't have borderline they can change that and help me see the right doctor who can get me back on my medication? And they'll talk to me for more than 10 minutes at a time before kicking me out for their next appointment?
Does it have to be a certain kind of psychologist? I've never heard of there being different types of psychologists so when you guys say clinical I have no idea what you're talking about.

I'll start by defining the types of psychologists first before continuing on. To compare them to a psychiatrist or neurologist, both of those doctors have a medical degree (M.D.) and therefore can give medications. Psychologists have either a PhD or a PsyD and no matter which one it is, they cannot give medications. Clinical psychologists usually have a PsyD and what this means is that their training focuses more on clinical work (i.e. diagnosing, therapy, etc...) rather than research. For a PhD, they focus more on research and less on clinical work.

Within clinical psychology, there are numerous fields, such as clinical neuropsychology, which is taking a biological view to behavior. There is also clinical child psychology, clinical geriatric psychology, clinical forensic psychology, etc... . Point is, anytime the label is clinical psychologist, they're doctors who have obtained their doctorate through a Bachelor's, Master's, Doctorate and 1-2 years of training in addition to all their studying. So generally, clinical psychologists receive longer formal education than a psychiatrist.

Clinical psychologists usually spend more time with each patient (although not true in all cases) and so they'll usually form a more detailed idea and report. They may also engage in some psychotherapy during this time and get more details that an average psychiatrist wouldn't. So you shouldn't expect to have a mere 10-20 minute meeting. You should expect to have maybe an hour or more.

In some places, such as Canada, psychologists and psychiatrists may not be covered by something such as MediCare. So before you see a clinical psychologist, you should check out the insurance issues.

To answer the rest of your questions, yes they can give you a different diagnosis and then refer you to a specialist. Psychologists cannot give you medications but they may be able to give you specialized psychotherapy.

There are numerous types of clinical psychologists, so depending what one you see, they'll do different things. For example, if you see a clinical neuropsychologist, then they'll listen to your case for a bit but they won't do any (or very little) psychotherapy. They adhere to a brain-behavior or a biological paradigm, so for diagnosing, they'd run numerous tests on you (none are painful, some may be long though) in order to reach their diagnosis. From there, they may refer you to someone else or they may work in a team and have a psychiatrist in their team who could prescribe you the proper medications. That psychiatrist may not meet with you for a long time though.

[Hide The Scars]

The place I'd be going to is free, they're a community mental health place for people aged 16-24 who are between doctors, can't find the right kind of support, or can't afford it. So I don't have to worry about the insurance thing thankfully.
I doubt that they'd have a clinical neuropsychologist there (but hey what do I know?) but you've made me curious now lol. There are tests for mental illness? All this time I thought it was just they listen and decide what you have and do whatever for it. I had no idea there were tests for diagnosing any of it. What kind of tests are they? Kind of like a questionnaire?
Now that I think about it I think I've been doing tests this whole time and just didn't notice. I'm still curious though.

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

The place I'd be going to is free, they're a community mental health place for people aged 16-24 who are between doctors, can't find the right kind of support, or can't afford it. So I don't have to worry about the insurance thing thankfully.

Well that is good as it sorts out a lot of the potential hassle and stress.

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

I doubt that they'd have a clinical neuropsychologist there (but hey what do I know?) but you've made me curious now lol. There are tests for mental illness? All this time I thought it was just they listen and decide what you have and do whatever for it. I had no idea there were tests for diagnosing any of it. What kind of tests are they? Kind of like a questionnaire?
Now that I think about it I think I've been doing tests this whole time and just didn't notice. I'm still curious though.

The tests can consist of written questionnaires, popping you into a fMRI or other imaging machines and having you do something, having you assemble things, etc... .

As someone who has taken courses in university psychology and neuropsychology, there are numerous tests and some may seem unusual, such as drawing a picture or pushing a button.

For you though, they may give you a questionnaire. They also do pay attention to what you tell them and how you tell them (i.e. body language, emotions, etc...), although those aren't actual tests. For diagnosing, they don't always use tests but if they do, then the tests cant suffice to be a diagnosis by itself. It can confirm or reject a possible diagnosis.

If it's a free place it may not have a clinical neuropsychologist but there may be a psychologist there or just a psychiatrist. Most of the written questionnaires you can fill out by yourself so if they have them there, they would ask you to do them, give you the instructions and have you sit somewhere to do then return the test to them and wait for the results. The questionnaires can be short (i.e. 30 questions) or long (i.e. 567 questions) but usually they're multiple choice questions or true-and-false ones.

[Hide The Scars]

All I need to do is get through the anxiety and work up the courage to pick up the phone and dial their number, I don't suppose you know any good ways to do that would you? You seem to be a pretty resourceful guy so far

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by Hide The Scars

All I need to do is get through the anxiety and work up the courage to pick up the phone and dial their number, I don't suppose you know any good ways to do that would you? You seem to be a pretty resourceful guy so far

Best I can say is to imagine that the new doctor will give a different, correct diagnosis and you can know you're right and that the old doctor was wrong.

As for myself, I'm more of a person whose into the diagnosing, pathology (including of non brain/mind) and neuroscience.

[mixtape]

You cannot get your disorder changed. You can see another psych though. About meds, just because the meds were perscribed to you does not mean they will be great and work fine. I been on good and bad meds for depression/social anxiety. I see that you are from Alberta. Private practices are great cause you get in ASAP but I would apply for a hospital so it is free, get on the waiting list fast they take forever!

[~CourageousSurvivor~]

From what I understand you can change your diagnoses. When I was first seeing a doctor they diagnosed me with Major Depressive Disorder. However, after awhile certain medicines were not working and they noticed that I was having manic episodes and they changed my diagnoses to Bipolar. As for whether or not a Psychologist can Diagnose you I believe they can but I live in the United States.

The best thing to do is explain your concerns about your diagnoses to the psychologist so that he/she can look into and see if they agree and if they can change the diagnoses they will and if they can't they will get the appropriate person to do so.

Best of luck.

Jenna

[InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU]

Originally Posted by mixtape

You cannot get your disorder changed. You can see another psych though. About meds, just because the meds were perscribed to you does not mean they will be great and work fine. I been on good and bad meds for depression/social anxiety. I see that you are from Alberta. Private practices are great cause you get in ASAP but I would apply for a hospital so it is free, get on the waiting list fast they take forever!

Of course you can change your diagnosis via another doctor if that doctor sees fit. Humans, their minds and their brains are dynamic not static so if someone is diagnosed with a disorder, 10 years down the road, it's possible they won't have the disorder.

But as said again, psychologists can diagnose, they cannot prescribe any medications, however, the psychologist is more likely than a psychiatrist to engage in some psychotherapy and in-depth testing and/or talking with the client.